School Shooting Leaves One Injured in Taft, California

January 10, 2013

(TAFT, Calif.) — A shooting at a California high school left one student injured and another in police custody on Thursday, local authorities said.

Police in Taft, Calif., were notified of an emergency around 9 a.m. Thursday after a student opened fire inside a classroom at Taft High School, located in the San Joaquin Valley about 120 miles north of Los Angeles.

The suspect, who police say failed to show up for school earlier in the day, interrupted a class being held in the school’s science building, shooting and injuring a 16-year-old student. The victim was airlifted to a hospital in nearby Bakersfield and is said to be in critical but stable condition.

The suspect shot at a second student, but missed, police said.

During the shooting, some students and staff hid in closets before police went room by room to make sure there were no other shooters.

The suspect is in police custody and the weapon – a shotgun – has been recovered, police said.